Giant Steps

[FriedFriez]

not fast enuf!!!

[nate42384]

@FriedFriez why not?

[ZupraVisor]

Trane Heart 1:44

[gardner593]

We missed you ,MR Moody.

[jswitch2010]

pops went in on the solo i swear

[CloudNine01]

amazing how relaxed he is

[RaiderEleven]

Great big band performance and solo by the legendary James Moody on tenor sax, playing a great arrangement of a Coltrane classic composition.

[MrQuotidian]

power!

[MrAx10]

The three persons who disliked this should take GIANT STEPS into oncomming trafic!

[ladytrumpet010]

true stuff sometimes it's hard for a person to touch a kings crown but he's touched

[reanimator9]

powerful !

[saxylarry26]

WOW he was just one extremely awesome cat.

[stalzz]

I saw him live and met him after! He was great! RIP

[Dmila220]

RIP JAMES MOODY YOU WILL BE MISSED!

[winesax]

I agree front1 1 gutter ...kinda wish you could just hear Moody with out the big white(no offense) noise in the background...but I guess this was the vehicle that allowed/inspired this melodic solo...yes?

[MelissaAyr]

I Love the Composition, the Flow, the LIFE. Listening to this makes me want to get up and dance and PAINT!!!

Melisa Ayr

[martyg374]

Very melodic solo by the master, James Moody. Think what you want about the band, they are quite good.

[hetamoses]

so not swinging. drummer is as stiff as a board

[okturus]

@hetamoses I agree, but the way the soloist works against that stiffness creates an incredible contrast that i find favorable. i guess, what i do appreciate about the "stiff" drummer is his unquestionable pocket. Nothin frames a solo like a solid pocket. Some drummers swing but tend to rush or compromise the pulse in subtle but detectable way. Also, this is Big Band...its invariably gonna sound a lil "stiff" compared to a trio or quartet etc.

[hetamoses]

@okturus LOL pocket? Ur kiddin me. Stop the ramblin mate

[BuckshotLaFunke]

IMO Moody plays well over these impossible changes. The Jankowski band is like all German big bands: fine musicianship, but sluggish, not crisp.

[heru1966]

That was really good and I loved the lyrical sax (and piano) solos...who WAS that 'masked pianist'?

[tallpaul521]

Love this tune. I was a young comedian working cruise ships and I needed a "walk on" tune -- a play on. I'm 6' 9" tall. The ship's orchestra graciously played "Giant Steps" for my entrance and even wrote the charts to give me for the future.

[MrCameronAllan]

This is one of the best arrangements I've heard of "Giant Steps" yet

[INGEN0423]

I like that kind of music. I think James Moody isn't creative musician but I could feel his way of tribute for Trane.

[Da0Illest0Drumma]

Tye Tribbett used this in a old song he has called I Can't Turn Around and it was "Smashing!" lol I heard this today on the Sirius Radio jazz channel and had to come and look it up.

[thepeople1325]

the really cool thing about moody is that he does not understand very much theory- that is- how chords work and why certain notes work over certain chords, and most of his improvisation is done by ear. I had a chance to talk with him and he said that most of the time he doesn't read changes- he just plays what he hears in his head and makes the ideas come out of the other end of the horn. That is so impressive to me!!!

[BennyMax37]

Very nice, big perfomance.

[TheDickyShow]

Like a wall of sound made of sick chords. . . beautiful!

[gabrielebalzerano]

full of power !

[bob22222222222222100]

@gabrielebalzerano more power!

[John27346]

That's bloody good

[fenomjr13]

dave carpenter¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡­¡¡¡¡¡

[lamontlewis]

Gone for 42 years, and only now popularized by bands, commercial and pop music. Hmmm..., sounds like people are recognizing a genius. You know, they're dead longer than they lived, before their famous. What was it the Pulitzer commitee said about 'Trane when they awarded him a posthumous citation: "For his masterful composition, supreme musicianship, and iconic centrality to the history of jazz? "Masterful" ,"Supreme" and "Iconic". Well just Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news.

[porter7954]

This wasn't recorded yesterday you know

[axiluss]

hm. would never think this tune could be proper for big band arrangement. i'm suprised, but in the good way. nice and sweet piece of music they managed to create =]

[front11gutter]

This is one of the most melodic solos on Giant Steps I've ever heard! That lick and the following line at about 1:27-1:37 is beautiful

[Modes9]

I thought the solo was particularly musical and non-repetitive. At first I thought it was just me, but then I saw your post and I knew I was on to something!

[bob22222222222222100]

@front11gutter WHAT ABOUT TRANE'S SOLO

[greati9]

@front11gutter the most melodic i heard was the one at 2:00 - 2:10

[UltraMN]

Haha, you could tell James didn't like getting cut off so quick...the band barely gave him 1 minute to play, and he wasn't even warmed up yet. At 2:28 he decides to barge back in without permission (Go James!). At 2:44, he hit his climax, but didn't know the song wasn't over (Can't blame him).

[handdancin]

hahahah you have no idea what your talking about

[UltraMN]

Don't you at least find it odd that James was playing over the "head" at the end? It's possible it was written into the arrangement, but that would be non-standard. It's also possible that he worked this out with the band in rehearsal...but then again it's also possible he just came back in on the spot.

One thing's for sure, if it wasn't written for him to come in there, audience still wouldn't have a clue :D

[macflyfilm]

Look up the word "jazz" on wikipedia.

[ncodrington]

LOL

[rowanhudsonmusic]

i agree

[jhg123456]

so basically you dont like soloing?

[blakethebold]

i agree with hendrixcommamartin- repition is a very important thing to do when soloing. its a one of the main parts of improvising

[dukes150]

nice arrangement

[trane1959]

whose arrangement?

[malilacreuse]

comme a son habitude james moody travaille a l arrachee lui specialiste de la fute nose

[Modes9]

The hardest thing about Giant Steps and Countdown is REALLY improvising. Only a great musician can do them without repeating the same ideas over and over and sounding stiff and mechanical. If you can weave a musical and lyrical line through these, it's a real achievement. Oh, and trying to comp them is also a drag!

[HendrixcommaMartin]

I disagree. Good musicians can repeat ideas in solos. Listen to Coltrane's original solo on this; he plays the same thing over the same part of the song (the AMaj7 to C7) almost ever time it comes up. He even carries it over to the alternate take. Sometimes repeating ideas gives the listener something to latch onto.

[Modes9]

I don't really agree. It's okay to develop ideas with a similar melodic contour. I'm not crazy about Coltrane's solo from the record. While we are all in his debt, I think there are people who followed who played it more creatively. My favorites are Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Larry Young, Joe Henderson, and Joe Farrell.

[Rugt980]

Hey wait a minute, Modes, coltranes solo was in 1959 and no one, I mean no-one then could have even dreamed to have solo on it then. People later on have worked out how to solo on it, so obviously it ws not melodious, but was still a fucking good solo.

[davidhilton]

im just curious what it is u dont like about trane's solo?

[tiluriso]

True. Specially on this song , up tempo 7 w/ so many key modulations, I read an analysis on Tranes solo on Downbeat or some other magazine and the writer was showing that particularly for the first 8 bars (you meant BMaj7 to D7 right?), there aren't really many different ways to play them and still make them sound like those changes.

[HendrixcommaMartin]

I actually meant Gmaj7 to Bb7. I was looking at it in a different key for some reason. My bad.

[FlowJazz]

Yeap right ! I agree. I think Trane's solo on giant steps was probably the best solo (IMO) on that tune, even though he plays the same licks over and over ;-). Let's not fight about music...

[JazzFanMan19]

NOBODY can Touch Coltranes Solo On that Song..... ITs RIDICULOUS lol

[danksam11]

it's so hard to get through the changes without using simple 1235, 1357, 3579 etc patterns. the most alterations trane used was a flat 9 once in a while. also he used a lot of the same licks because in the end he invented the progression (first 8 bars of the tune) and it's basically an exercise so he used the material he came up with which once again is very limited because of the incredibly fast chord movements.

[PianoHero101]

It is not in the technique of coltrane's solos that define him as the artist he is. Coltrane plays every one of his tunes flawlessly. In every recording I have heard, Coltrane has been confident, melodic, and closer to perfect than anyone else has.

[FlowJazz]

Don't get me wrong, fam, I never said that ;-). I was just talking about that tune in particular. He didn't need to drop 10 runs a bar to sound crazy ! Trane is a legend. And if I ever have a doubt about it, I'll just go and listen to Naima. Period. ;)

[Jazzsaxman1]

I wouldn't say hes perfect. The reason I like Trane so much is because he sings through his horn, he plays with more emotion than anyone....

[Jazzsaxman1]

So you're saying that Trane wasn't a "great musician"?

wow man, get a clue....

[renixe]

i love when people say on youtube "oh, it's just a few ii-v-Is in 3 keys" about giant steps. the changes are hard folks, even in lower tempos if you really want to outline the chords and not just play randomly in the tonic major scale. and as someone said earlier, lets see your versions if you think this tune is easy. every respected musician i know personally agrees this is a hard tune to play melodically on.

[axiluss]

i know what you mean. before i've fallen into jazz i thought 'oh, it's just playing over chords'. a year has passed since i've began some serious jazz-guitar studying and... i can't believe i thought it's simple, banal and not creative. now i think exactly opposite =]

[bizelli07]

ié ! :)

[42connorzielinski42]

great soloist. I saw him yesterday at a clinic of his in Seattle. unfortunately, this was done about 50% slower than it should be, and they were playing WAY to loud to hear the soloist. listen to the original Coltrane version. it is on a different level from this band.

[ncodrington]

nice, i'd love to see him myself. i agree this was so slow...its kinda smokey though, i like this but with the exception of the and drowning james out as you said. i have giant steps the album and it is of course amazing! :P

[davidhilton]

metheny plays it slow and it sounds good.

[coronachilla]

makes u appreciate John COltrane much more

[Caneinthehouse]

now that i listen to it...that pianist is playing annoyingly loud..

[jorgeandreartea]

estoy de acuerdo esta itnerpretacione s pobre ni si quiera se compara a el sentimiento que coltrane ponia en sus piezas, creo que el jazz con orquesta es muy pobre

[ncodrington]

yeah, but i still like it =)

sí, pero yo todavía tenga gusto de él =)

[1761rw]

This is poorly done. Since the beginning, the pianist is playing his own little part instead of comping the actual melody - a complete mess. Then it gets good, with the sax solo, but halfway through it the whole band drowns him out! It sounds like a big mess.

[mambojazz1]

What are you talking about? His own little part? Do you know anything about music at all?!

[1761rw]

Do you? The pianist is playing as if he is leading, instead of COMPLEMENTING the music. Hence it sounds like a mess. No-one likes it when someone else is seeking attention when you're supposed to be leading. Make sense now?

[awwcrap01]

I met James Moody a few years ago at the Toronto Jazz Festival, and without a doubt, Mr. Moody is the most easy going, down to earth and approachable jazz musician I ever met.

[hardkorsax]

t3hm4n.

actually the wholes song is composed of ii-v-i. yes the chords change every two beats but with the two five one it makes it so you are changing scales like every two measures.

it's not that bad.

[t3hm4n]

What most people don't know about this song: In the improv section, the chords containing the right notes to improv change every 2 beats. So its Change beat beat Change beat beat Change It's absolutely INSANE to try and improv on.

[ShtotaKoya]

its no a hard song. your just a weak player

[t3hm4n]

No no, it's a hard song to IMPROV on. I never said the actual song was hard.

[Caneinthehouse]

your wrong its NOT hard to improve on..if you knew anything about soloing take away three sharps and solo on the minor chord

[wiwif]

vid or shut up.

[Saxyman14]

Let's take one of Coltrane's best known tunes and simplify it into a sentence. Why don't I just sit on the computer and make everything sound really easy instead of giving a music school 30 grand a year to teach me a fraction of what goes on in Coltrane's head? Yeah, I can do that.

Ya know, the less you know about music, the easier things seem. You put no thought or emotion into what you play. You're one of those "Blues Scale" guys, aren't you?

[Caneinthehouse]

no im a high school freshman.....and i dont use blues scales..they are way to original..i just learn the appropriate notes if that makes sense

[Saxyman14]

Blues scales are too original?

Huh?

Nope, doesn't make sense.

[Caneinthehouse]

you know what? you can shove your degree up ur ass cuz i rlly dont give a shit what u think.imma play my sax and b happy wid myself and ignore the haters who are 30 yrs old critizing me..i didnt come to youtube to hear your 'im so good cuz i went to music school' FUCK YOU

[Saxyman14]

You're about 10 years too high. and I don't have a degree yet. If I had a degree, I wouldn't currently be attending the school. Nice problem solving skills.

But, you're totally over-simplifying things. The more you learn about theory, the more appreciation you will have for this.

I'm not the type of person to say "I'm so good because..." but I will put someone in their place if they seem to be one of those people. And when you say things like "The Blues scale is too original," I can tell.

[ncodrington]

Calm down and have a normal adult conversation please.

[laumeister]

you are a fool, freshman.

[Caneinthehouse]

fuck you..you are the definiton of a hater

[carlos65000000000000]

or maybe your ignorant.

[ChoujiAkimichi]

and you, my good sir, are the definition of an ignorant prick.

the end.

[Auquis]

@Caneinthehouse "too original"...WHAT?

[avakiantz]

@Caneinthehouse

yeah...gotta agree with everyone and say that you, caneinthehouse, are guilty of diarrhea of the mouth. so please shut the fuck up.

[Caneinthehouse]

@avakiantz k

[ncodrington]

Actually,no i'm not.

[jonjonjonmw3]

@Saxyman14 Wow, you're a dick

[songsmadeforyou]

@Caneinthehouse if you take away 3 sharps your playing in a different key newb

[Caneinthehouse]

That was comment was made 2 years ago. No big deal though. newb

[songsmadeforyou]

@Caneinthehouse ok well i'm glad to see you learned key signatures in that time

[JamesPatison]

yeah, I'm working on truing to improv in this song, but jesus it's at over 200bpm at as you said every 2 beats the chord changes.

This version is good but a bit too slow for my taste.

[morales664]

oooo i liv this video and man moody just deteriated this song!! Loveed it!!!

[tinyboy22]

maan so hammer ich liebe die rias big band!!!schade, dass es sie nicht mehr gibt !!

[allaaaah]

svinge svinge !!

[evosynth]

nice piano :)

[bzalto]

Great arrangement and great band, and, of course, the always great, James Moody!